Michael Walsh writes: "No movie has been as successful as The Sound of Music." The highest-grossing film in history, released in 1965, it evokes joy and sentiments of all kinds in young and old. Yet the real story of the Von Trapp family and what we see in the film has little parallel.
Maria was a neglected orphan who wound up at an abbey and sent to tutor the children of Baron von Trapp and soon married him (1927). Beset with financial difficulties, the family began singing in the streets for money. A priest invited them to perform in churches. The family did so, gaining popularity as the Von Trapp Choir, and eventually left Austria for the United States (no Nazi harrassment), where they met a producer. However, their religious singing did not resonate with American audiences, and again strapped for cash, they added yodeling to their act, along with American folk songs. The content switch worked, and they settled into a nice big ranch in Stowe, Vermont. The rest is peaceful history...
Except for the unfortunate deal they accepted from Hollywood, which was a paltry $10,000-15,000 for the rights to Maria's memoir, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers (1949). This seemed easier to them than the prospect of haggling over royalties with Hollywood business people. They had no idea that their romanticized and fictionalized story would gross over $280 million in box-office revenues alone -- billions in today's dollars. By the time the movie became a huge hit, it was too late to renegotiate with Hollywood's 20th Century Fox behemoth. And who will ever forget those songs, still ringing in our memory since childhood?
